my father always said, “early to b
early to rise makes a man healthy,
and wise.”
it was lights out at 8 p.m. in our
and we were up at dawn to the smel

when I look back now
at the abuse I took from
her
I feel shame that I was so
innocent,

the lady has me temporarily off th
and now the pecker stands up
better.
however, things change overnight—
instead of listening to Shostakovi

once
we were young
at this
machine. . .
drinking

the night I was going to die
I was sweating on the bed
and I could hear the crickets
and there was a cat fight outside
and I could feel my soul dropping

he spoke to mice and sparrows
and his hair was white at the age
his father beat him every day and
lit candles in the church.
his grandmother came while the boy

she’s young, she said,
but look at me,
I have pretty ankles,
and look at my wrists, I have pret
wrists

225 days under grass
and you know more than I.
they have long taken your blood,
you are a dry stick in a basket.
is this how it works?

with an Apple Macintosh
you can’t run Radio Shack program
in its disc drive.
nor can a Commodore 64
drive read a file

I reached up into the top of the c
and took out a pair of blue pantie
and showed them to her and
asked “are these yours?”